Help with changing full HDD (Win XP Pro OS). 2

[andypomf]

Hello
I have two physical HDD's. One small 4.5 with XP Pro sqeezed on and the other HDD 120gb with all my data and programs that don't need to be installed on the C:\ drive.
I want to replace the first physical drive which is a 4.5gb HDD, with a new Samsung 120 gb HDD, which is a brown box component in that it came with no CD etc.,
That was done to keep costs down. So purchasing Symantec Ghost or other costly software would not be helping in that direction.
Basically if I do a clean install on the new HDD I just need to know would the newly installed Win XP Pro OS see the data and partitions on the second physical drive. If it does then I could just remove the old drive and format the new HDD with a clean install of XP and this surely would be more beneficial in the longer term.
My current XP Pro OS is basically the 4 upgrades from MS-DOS. -- MS-DOS v5
then windows updates,
Win 3.1 then Win95 then Win 98SE.
There must be a lot of clutter left by that lot.

Regards, Andy Pomfret

 

[wolluf]

The new XP should see the second drive - unless you are using overlay software or have goback installed.

From your description, I'd be possibly concerned about overlay software (if goback installed, you'll need to install it in new XP to be able to see second drive). You've got a hard drive that's 6 or 7 years old? An operating system history that's ? years old! Does your current bios natively support the 120GB drive - or have you had to circumvent its limits (eg, with overlay or with a PCI card)

From the o/s history, a clean install is obviosuly a much better idea than moving the current installation - so if no overlay, I'd go for it (and you'll still have the old o/s disk if you run into problems).

 

[andypomf]

Mant thanks for your reply.
Regarding the age of the HDDs, existing 120 gig is Seagate Barracuda and is approx 10/12 months old and will remain as the second physical disk, what will be the first is a brand new 120 gig Samsung both are IDE 133 UDMA.
I do use an overlay software which presumably is on the HDD that is being removed. I plan on a clean install of XP Pro OS on this new HDD, starting the format and setup from the CD Rom. However, its highly likely that the Motherboard does not support large HDDs without overlay (I don't have Goback installed)software so maybe there will a problem to overcome. It looks as though a new Motherboard might be in the offing, which will mean new memory as well!

 

[wolluf]

The point about the overlay software is that without it, you won't be able to read your existing 120GB drive (eg, if you invest in mobo it won't require overlay software. So you install XP on the new 120GB hard drive, slave the old 120Gb drive to it - and you won't be able to read what's on it. I don't know if the overlay software you're using will let you work round that.

Suggestion - if you go that route. Assuming the old 120GB drive isn't actually full, install XP on new 120GB drive in 'new machine'. Network the 2 machines, and copy the necessary from old to new 120GB drive. Then slave the old drive - and repartition/reformat it (may need to remove the overlay software first in old machine). Can now copy files back to newly formatted (old) drive. Bit long-winded - but in case...

 

[andypomf]

Thanks Wolluf
The overlay sotware came with the first 120gb HDD, which is a Seagate Barracuda. However I think the overlay software is from a third party sotware company.
Sadly, its looking like a new motherboard.
I'll do some research into both possibilities.
Thanks again.

 

[paulrw1]

I would highly suggest that you back your important data up to cd-rom or what ever you use to do backups with. Be aware that when you install a new HD and put a new OS on it, NONE of your PROGRAMS will work. They will need to be reinstalled. Your data SHOULD be fine. Make sure you have the orginal disks or can otherewise obtain the programs you need to install.

I generally wipe all drives, delete partitions, and start over. Esp. if you've had a drive for a while and have done the updates as you mention. After reinstalling, simply restore your data.